Current water levels show Beaver Lake at nearly 1,114 feet. That's up three feet in the last few weeks and up five feet since February. But lake levels are still seven feet below full pool of 1,120 feet.

"It's down a little bit, it's actually come up about five feet since February which is good. We're almost at 1,114. It's still a little bit low compared to years past at this time," Alan Bland, a ranger with the Army Corps of Engineers said.

Bland said Memorial Day weekend, still months away is one of the busiest and most accident-prone weekends on the lake. Last summer, five people drowned on Beaver Lake - more than any other lake in the state, Bland said. 114 people have drowned in Beaver Lake overall.

"We've now had a total of 114 drownings on Beaver Lake. And we've yet to have any of those 114 who drown at our lake, we've yet to have anyone drown who was wearing a life jacket. All five of our drownings last year - no one was wearing a life jacket."

This will also be the first summer marinas in Benton County can sell alcohol to boaters. Bland says the Corps of Engineers and the Benton County Sheriff's Office will step up alcohol enforcement on the lake and nearby roads.

There's a $30,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of a bank robbery trio known as the Black Hat Bandits, suspected in a two-month string of robberies across Maryland and Virginia, the latest coming Monday.